PLANTATION CROPS in India

Horticultural                            Others

1. Arecanut      yield              6. Tea          link  yield

2. Coconut      link   yield                       7. Coffee     link yield

3. Cashew Nut                           8. Rubber     yield

4. Oil Palm                                9. Tobacco    link yield

5. Cocoa                                   10. Sugarcane / Bamboo

(Large insert below shows countries ranked by aggregrate values for 10 plantation crops, excl bamboo. Two inserts on top right show the most globally significant country-crop pairs.)

Plantation crops are cash crops often grown as a single crop over a large area, and owned and managed by large estates. Sugarcane, cotton & others are ignored in the narrative.

India is among the top global producers of plantation crops, such as Arecanut, Coconut, Cashew nut, Tea, Rubber, Tobacco and Bamboo. Where India is not among the top producers (eg oil palm, cocoa, coffee), it is trying to increase production. Plantation crops are mainly concentrated, due to climate, in South India and the North-East. India is trying to diversify the sourcing of plantation crops to non-traditional areas (eg Oil Palm in Telangana, Rubber in NE) and tribal areas. Contributions to the country are not always recognized, but they are nevertheless enormous.

Plantation crops are non-perishable and usually processed into many finished products. Economic value addition is key to overall profitability. Export demand is quite robust but internal consumption is also rising fast. Thus, there is a continuous effort to increase the area and/or productivity of these crops (esp coconut, coffee, rubber & oil palm). Since crops are long-standing and slow-maturing, the sector is always buffeted by market forces (such as global prices and demand-supply) and this can create difficulty in realising good profits for the owners. It is for these reasons that Centre and State goverments, from time to time, take an active role in this sector.

Centre recently closed the Rubber development board, as only 4 crops (coffee, tobacco, tea & coconut products) are likely be net-exported. Production and yields of some plantation crops have not grown as they should have. So, Centre is encouraging the private sector, eg. 4 tyre companies plan to develop NE for natural rubber (5-year, Rs 1100cr for new 200,000 ha, skills training & high-yielding crop), just as chocolate companies promote domestic cocoa production. Perhaps, cashew nut processors can do the same! link 

◘ Oil palm cultivation is essential for edible oil self-sufficiency. There is news that Telangana wants to devote 20 lakh acres to oil palm in the next 4 years!! Potential is 4m tonnes/yr of palm oil, or >25% of imports!! ♫ (see insert). [New irrigated tracts are available in Telangana due to the massive Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project & near 100% govt-sponsored drip irrigation. Profits expected to be $2500/ acre, or x5 more than rice]. Other states are getting encouraged, though Nagaland is having practical difficulties. 

♫ "Oil palm is the highest oil yielding perennial crop. With good planting material, irrigation and proper management, it has a potential of 20-25 MT fresh fruit bunches (FFB) per hectare after 5 years, and is capable of yielding 4-5 MT of palm oil & 0.4-0.5 MT of palm kernel oil (PKO). Yields are 5 times those of oilseeds. Economic life span is 30 years, comprising juvenile period (1-3 yrs), stabilizing period (4-8 yrs) & stabilized period (9-30 yrs)." 

◘ Bamboo is a sunrise sector in India (IMHO). Recent legislative change allows commercial exploitation of bamboo (see Concept note on bamboo & National Bamboo Mission). Centre wants to make NE a bamboo hub, though many states, eg MP offer state incentives as well. Almost guaranteed offtake, as investment is being made to use bamboo in manufacturing (as raw material for Agarbatti, furniture, flooring, etc) and for fuel (electricity and biofuel). Support to massively increase bamboo production, particuarly by productivity jumps through correct planting methods and commercialisation. Aim is to export bamboo goods and replace imports.

◘ Coconut — rehabilitate senile palms, improve planting methods and increase value addition. Excellent export demand. ◘ Rubber — new areas and high-yielding plants (up 25%) to meet elevated domestic demand. ◘ Coffee — careful increase in area and climate change resistance. Premium export market. ◘ Cashew nuts — domestic demand is up on lifestyle trends but exports are declining due to stagnant production. Competition from Vietnam is hurting nut processing industry.

 India is on the move India's approach to Startups is      better than China's 

Query: Reporter asked how can we create VC like China's state-back VC? And Piyush gave a long bullshit answer that doesn't even mention VC

Arvind Agarwal: He has given his reasoning if you will. China was giving easy money, but lending recklessly, and so creating a banking crisis, or NPAs, just like in India before 2012. Govt's approach is Ease of doing business, deregulation eg space and drones & making platforms like UPI, ONDC—startups are using these for business, eg lending to small businesses using UPI data, fintech solutions. Some make drones others provide drone delivery services. etc. Indian banks favour good entrepreneurs. Risks are lower, money spent is less, growth is organic. see Video from 13.40min & 23.20.

Bullet train routes proposed & how HSR can develop in the future  Link

High-Speed Rail line is being built between Mumbai and Ahmedabad at a cost of over Rs 1.1 lakh crore. It employs the most advanced method for HSR construction in the world! MAHSR will have only elevated and underground sections, to separate it from ground-level human movements and stray animals. Pre-stressed, high-quality piers and girders are being cast and taken by gigantic cranes and other machines to the construction site and assembled with absolute precision. Fine tolerances are also required for 4 river bridges. Stations and multimodal hubs are being constructed.

1) Mumbai - Surat - Vadodara - Ahmedabad

2)  Delhi - Jaipur - Udaipur - Ahmedabad

3) Delhi - Chandigarh - Ludhiana - Jalandhar - Amritsar 4) Amritsar - Pathankot - Jammu 5) Delhi - Noida - Agra - Kanpur - Lucknow - Varanasi 6) Varanasi - Patna - Howrah 7) Patna - Guwahati 8) Nagpur - Varanasi 9) Mumbai - Nasik - Nagpur 10) Mumbai - Pune - Hyderabad 11) Hyderabad - Bangalore 12) Chennai - Bangalore - Mysore

HSR Stations: Multifaceted, Multimodal Gateways to Cities Link

Just as HSR will shape the future of how India will travel, HSR stations will be multimodal gateways to the cities, that will appeal to seasoned domestic travellers, tourists and commercial activities. They will incorporate all the modern infrastructure, aesthetics, heritage, functionality, comfort, light and space.

Arunachal Pradesh Highways

Arunachal has been building roads very fast, at 2000km per year and this is making a significant impact on road density (up from 26 to 33km/100km2 in 6yrs). 

When CM Khandu tweeted about the highways development program and its benefits on jobs and poverty, etc, the response of citizens was like this: Correctly said, Absolutely,  The people of Arunachal Pradesh are witness to it sir and we are thankful to you 🙏— Joram Tat🇮🇳 (@JoramTat2) October 10, 2022

A beautiful drive on the newly inaugurated 4km approach road of Donyi Polo Airport, Itanagar. @PMOIndia — Pema Khandu (@PemaKhanduBJP) November 16, 2022

Push For Infrastructure Projects Is Changing The Face Of Arunachal Pradesh Link

"But it is the road sector, that is making the most dramatic strides. Work is going on at a hectic pace to complete the Trans Arunachal Highway, East-West Corridor and Arunachal Frontier Highway."

Arunachal Frontier Highway (in Blue) will come up as a 2-lane highway (1450km, with Rs 27,400cr new sanction) along Arunachal's international border. A 2-lane inter-connectivity corridor of 1048km (Rs 15,720cr) and 2-lane road btw Brahmakund to Chowkham (61 kms, Rs915cr) were also sanctioned for construction.

Work on Frontier highway has already started, "with state-of-art equipment deployed to fast track the process". AFh will be among the toughest and most ambitious road projects in India. It will create a strategically-important, inter-valleys road corridor in the high mountains. "Proposed highway along with other ongoing projects will provide a huge boost to the Army’s capability to move from one valley to another." Link

Trans Arunachal Pradesh Highway (in Red) — another ambitious project — is under construction, to be completed by 2024. It is a 2-lane paved shoulder. East-West Economic Corridor (970km, in lowlands, close to Arunachal-Assam border) and Six corridors (or 6 North-South roads, joining missing links between NH-15, EWEC, TAPh & AFh, of 2180km length) are also being built.

Separately, BRO under MOD is building Strategic roads, bridges and tunnels, in-depth and right up to the Tibet and Myanmar borders. Eg. all-weather road access to Tawang will happen by early-2023, as BRO-built Nechiphu & Sela Tunnels (2.5km, under Sela pass), on Balipara-Charduar-Tawang NH, are nearing completion.

Existing roads are being further developed under SARDP-NE (shown below, with the TAP highway). 

 India is on the move doing great and working hard towards a glorious future

◘ 8.5 million jobs added in Sept-Oct 2022, which is 10% of total formal jobs (86m)

◘ 26% increase in net direct tax collection over last year

Information wars: do bad, incite, watch the tamasha and be happy

"Focus of these Westernoids is to look outward, abuse others and feel happy about their sorry existence!"

"All such fantasies of the West multiplied by a thousand times, are spoken to the World by sold-out media and propagated through Social Media."

"Lectures in fake, anti-Hindu narratives are also a rage in US academic circles. Talk against it and you are a fascist!"

According to Salvatore Babones, Western media (like NYtimes, Washington Post, WSJ, BBC, DW, FT, etc, etc, etc) are not responsible for the intellectual dishonesty of their reporting. It is the fault of Indian intellectuals [or so-called India-subject experts of Indian origin] for giving a biased portrayal. Similarly, Western analysts who rank countries, using bogus surveys, agenda-driven assessments, manipulated data & faulty analysis, etc are not wrong. Rather, they are misled by the anti-India consensus built up by the very-same Indians. 

I can say with 100% conviction that Western media is totally to blame. For example, why does Lancet, a medical journal, want to go deep into fake news and then play Indian politics during COVID? The focus is on something else.

Western media houses are responsible for hiring hypocritical, dishonest and fake news peddlers. Do "smart" Western editors not read or learn what is reported, or happening in their own countries? The US is printing fake money and complaining about global inflation! US Democrats were crying about failing democracy in the US when they sensed a likely defeat. Europe has a critical dependency on cheap Russian gas; they are breaking contracts to take over other countries' gas shipments, and also telling them to morally support Europe and stop buying Russian oil and gas!! Both US and Europe play the religion card. Both have supported the rise of autocracy, the godless hellhole that is China — made money out of it!

"Religious freedom is what we want you to be!" 

"Oh, Christianity is great and we are supporting terrorist regimes in your neighbourhood."

"We liberated you and kept your money, jewels, antiques, religious symbols and lopsided trade."

"Don't think about catching up. We are superior, our needs are greater. So, we pollute and you cut your emissions."

"We have culture and all things great, even if we kill millions in other countries and start useless wars."

Their mess is impacting their own and is hurting other countries. But the focus of these Westernoids is to look outward, abuse others and feel happy about their sorry existence!

What about Salvatore Babones? He has a point. The larger point is that US & Europeans are getting called out so easily and so frequently, that perhaps, they want to deflect the angst. It hurts like The Wire reporting and the Global Hunger Index. 

GHI is interesting. Every year, India is shown near the bottom of the Global Hunger Index and losing ground. How is that possible? India produces a large surplus of food grains every year, that feeds the world & it still prioritises its population for achieving low domestic prices. India provides plentiful, free food rations to the poorest 60% of the population, and has an elaborate system of delivering to every household and each migrant worker; even as higher-ranked countries are struggling for basic foods and the West is seeing growing numbers of hungry people.

All such fantasies of the West multiplied by a thousand times, are spoken to the World by sold-out media and propagated through Social Media. Lectures in fake, anti-Hindu narratives are also a rage in US academic circles. Talk against it and you are a fascist.

“The personality of Modi is an affront to India’s intellectual class. It has brought them to a new fever pitch of anger over the loss of their place in society.”
~ Prof @SBabones on my show today: pic.twitter.com/ine4JvghPT

— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) November 7, 2022

 Global Hydrogen Trade to Meet the 1.5°C Climate Goal

PART I – TRADE OUTLOOK FOR 2050 AND WAY FORWARD
PART II – TECHNOLOGY REVIEW OF HYDROGEN CARRIERS

By 2050, India's demand for hydrogen will be 2nd largest in the world, but a third of China's, which is 1/4 of total global demand of 650mt. So India's demand will be 1/12th or 55mt by 2050.

(NB. Demand is a projection of current status quo. It will be higher if India becomes a significant manufacturing hub.)

According to the report, India will use hydrogen mainly for steel production and ammonia. Whilst India is self-sufficient, it will export some ammonia (blended with 20% hydrogen) within the region, SE Asia and/or China. Australia will be the giant exporter to the east of India, whilst North Africa will be the giant exporter to Europe. The US will use hydrogen for methanol & transportation, and Singapore & UAE will use it for shipping.

Three factors are important for determining the cost of producing green hydrogen: Firstly, the cost of RE generation; Secondly, electrolyser capacity factor (since electrolyser capital cost is very high, 24x7 use of electrolyser is ideal); and Thirdly, curtailment level (which is the amount of power not passed through electrolyser because it is wasteful to deploy a larger capacity of electrolyser). India's electrolyser capacity factor is at global midpoint, at 43%. Curtailment levels for India are on the high side, but in the efficient range at 6-7%. Curtailed power can be stored in batteries, etc.

Over time, the cost of producing green hydrogen falls in all regions to well below $1/kg but under unfavourable conditions, it is still around $1.5/kg. Also, as electrolyser cost falls much faster, RE generation cost becomes more prominent in the cost of green hydrogen. And, India becomes even more price-competitive over time in green hydrogen production!!

It notes that India is one of the cheapest producers of hydrogen, "driven by the low capital cost and high quality of solar resources".

India's demand for electricity will keep rising sharply, due to larger population and industrial growth. Total electricity demand (including hydrogen and ammonia) will reach almost 8,000 TWh by 2050.

India will be self-sufficient but it has potential to do more. It can export surpluses as India will be the lowest-cost source of hydrogen for the region, incl China. It states: "PV potential of India is about 16,000 GWh. Land available for PV is largely limited by cropland but quality of solar resources across India's geography is excellent. More than 1/2 of useable land has a capacity factor greater than 20%!!"